The Tolkien essays
by iluion
Summary: The plan is to make a series of essays concerning some of the major questions and misconceptions that people have regarding the works of my favourite author of all times: J.R.R. Tolkien. For instance - do Balrogs have wings? What is the difference between orcs and goblins? why didn't the eagles bring frodo to mordor? And what exactly is Tom Bombadil?
1. Essay one: the ongoing balrog debate

_Welcome to my new project. While this isn't a real story I wanted a place to publish this and I thought I just try this out. First of all I'm a major Tolkien geek I read all his books about once a year, so it's fair to say that it's a bit of an obsession. I regularly encounter articles or statements about Tolkien and his works which can be misleading or just plain wrong and most of these could have been prevented with just a bit of insight. That's why I've decided to post a series of articles or essays to explain some of the main misconceptions about Tolkien's works. A few of the topics I want to cover are: Who or what exactly is Tom Bombadil, why couldn't the eagles be a taxi service and what is the exact difference between orcs and goblins. The goal for these essays is to be easily accessible and you don't necessarily have to be an obsessed Tolkien fan like me to understand them. Therefor e I have included a list of terms at the end of the essay. During these articles I might refer to the movies and a reader might get the impression that I hate these. I just want to say that this is not true; although I do think that the movies made some major mistakes in general I can understand the changes made for them and I actually enjoy watching them. Now here follows my first essay on the wings of Balrogs._

The question of Balrogs having wings or not is probably as old as the lord of the rings itself. It stems of course from the first time any reader met a Balrog on the bridge of _Khazad-dûm_ in chapter 5 in the second book of the fellowship of the ring. In this chapter the Balrog is metaphorically described as having wings and spreading them wall to wall. A lot of readers read this and say yes they have wings however there are plenty of reasons why they wouldn't have them. So for me the short answer to the question is no and I hope to tell you why I think this is the case.

I'll start with a bit of historical background on the Balrogs; I think this will be helpful to better understand them. The first Chronological appearance of the Balrog is in the Silmarillion. The Balrog started off as _Maiar_ spirits that joined the fallen _Valar_ Melkor and became spirits of fire and some of his most deadly servants. Melkor later became Morgoth and is basically the Lucifer figure in Tolkien's work. Its also worse noting that Sauron was just a servant of Morgoth and

"_For of the Maiar many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance down into his darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukar, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror."_

In the mythology as it stands by the end of Tolkien's life there we're never that many Balrogs maybe 12 at most. The Balrogs where instrumental in saving Morgoth from the wrath of Ungoliant, while she had imprisoned Morgoth. The next time the Balrogs show up is in the battle under the stars where they kill the maker of the_ silmarils_ Feänor. Balrogs seem to be little used during the wars of the first age the next time they turn up is at the sack of Gondolin. Gothmog met his end during the attack being slayed at the gates of the city by Ecthellion lord of the fountain. Who was killed by Gothmog in turn. Another major Balrog fight happened when the survivors of Gondolin fled through a mountain pass where they were ambushed by a Balrog this one was slayed by Glorfindel who also died doing it. The final time in the Silmarillion where the Balrog show up is at the very end where the Valar fight their final fight against Morgoth in the war of wrath. That's where it's said they were all destroyed or fled. The Balrog hidden in Moria is an example of the ones that might have fled. He was eather awoken or released from prison by dwarves searching for mithril in Moria. This caused the death of Durin the king of the dwarves and the exodus of Moria. This is the Balrog that Gandalf the grey faces on the bridge of Khazad-dûm and kills on the top of the mountain resulting in his own demise.

At first glance a reader might understandably make the misconception that Balrogs have wings. There are several argument in favor of this and the ones against are a lot harder to spot however as I said it seems pretty clear. As I said the primary argument in favor of them having wings comes from the following passage.

"_His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm."_

A reader might see this and quite reasonably assume that he has wings it says so right there doesn't it? And the argument seems to become even stronger in the following one just a few sentences later.

"_It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall; but still Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone: grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm"_

When you read this it clearly says it has wings doesn't it, it would be if Tolkien didn't like his symbolism that much. In my opinion Tolkien is just continuing his symbolism of the shadows he made in the first part. Comparing the shadow the Balrog forms around him to wings in the first passage and taking that reference by saying the shadow now extended from wall to wall.

The more careful readers and proponents to the wing theory will bring up a reference in the appendixes of the return of the king where a Balrog apparently flew from Thangorodrim (Morgoth's fortress) towards Khazad-dûm.

"_Thus they roused from sleep__2__a thing of terror that, flying from Thangorodrim, had lain hidden at the foundations of the earth since the coming of the Host of the West: a Balrog of Morgoth.__"_

This is of course a reference to the dwarves awakening Durin's bane. Now it's very easy to read this as a modern reader and say look there it flew so that's that. But it's not that simple Tolkien uses the word fly quite often throughout his works but usually not to mean actually flying in its modern sense. A lot of the times he uses it to mean to flee ran a way or retreat. This was quite a common use of the word in the time of Tolkien and the medieval literature he loved so much. The most famous example of this use is actually in the bridge of Khazad-dûm chapter.

_"Fly, you fools!' he cried, and was gone. "_

Now this of course is what Gandalf ways to the company right before he plummets of the bridge and unless he suggests that the company should sprout a pair of wings and actually fly away take this to mean as a recommendation to get a way as soon as they possibly can. A fellow Tolkien fan I met during a conference made the joke once that Gandalf was actually speaking to the Balrog there making the suggestion that he should start flying. Which funny as it is is still a translation error.

Now this is all of course circumstantial evidence and doesn´t prove that they don´t have wings. However as I said there are several arguments against them having wings as well. Which are a lot harder of not impossible to shoot down. The simplest of these is the fact that The Balrog that Gandalf fights never decides to fly. Here he is falling down in a chasm and at no point he thinks hey I can fly. Now of course people will say that the chasm might have been to narrow for it to fly however there is a lot of evidence in Tolkien's letters that the Balrogs weren't actually that big. Hit this point is even more lessened by the fact that the Balrog eventually dies by being thrown down the mountain side right out in the open at the top of the endless stairs. And to add insult to injury, this isn't even the only one to die because of gravity Glorfindel slays his Balrog by throwing it down a mountain too.

"_Many are the songs that have been sung of the duel of Glorfindel with the Balrog upon a pinnacle of rock in that high place; and both fell to ruin in the abyss. "_

So there are 2 out of the three Balrogs slaying where a mountain and a great height was involved and in none of these passages is there a reference to one of them flying. This might not seem conclusive yet however there is one more piece of evidence to consider. In the Silmarillion there is a hidden minor subplot of Morgoth lack of an air force. In the earlier versions of the book it was more clear but even in the published one there still is some evidence of it.

"_For Manwë to whom all birds are dear, and to whom they bring news upon Taniquetil from Middle-earth, had sent forth the race of Eagles, commanding them to dwell in the crags of the North, and to keep watch upon Morgoth "_

These eagles are said to make their nests atop the very mountains on which Morgoth's fortress is build. Now if Morgoth had giant fire demons that could fly they wouldn´t be able to spy on them. And then there is the story of Gondolin. It took some dirty tactics and luck for Morgoth to even find the location of this city and without the treachery of Meaglin his forces would never have been able to attack the city. Now if the Balrogs could just get over the mountains by flying this wouldn´t be much of a problem would it. but what about the dragons one might say, well the original dragons in Tolkien´s books couldn't fly. Glaurung was described as a big worm and of him it is said specifically that he couldn´t fly. He actually has to jump a gorge for crying out loud!

_Glaurung father of dragons. The strength and terror of the Great Worm were now great indeed, and Elves and Men withered before him; and he came between the hosts of Maedhros and Fingon and swept them apart._

Flying dragons wouldn't come in to play till the end of the 1st age and the war of wrath when Morgoth finally would gain his air force. All of the above has left me to conclude that Balrogs don't have wings. I hope you enjoyed my first essay and understood my points I hope you will read the next one I write as well.

_Well I hope you enjoyed this essay I hope to make many more like them. I just want to give credit and a shout out to the Tolkien professor who has taught me so much if you're interested in learning a lot more about Tolkien then I could ever tell you check out his podcast it will change everything you thought you knew. I´m afraid to say that I did sort of steal some of his points for this essay but I really tried to add my own ideas to it and I hope you didn´t mind professor. If you agree disagree with the points I made please put it in a review or send me a PM. This is also the way to go if you want to suggest a topic for my next essay. Also I just want o add that I`m not a native speaker and I´m pretty sure I made many grammatical and spelling mistakes I hope you can forgive them_

**List of terms**

**Gondolin: **or the hidden rock is an elven city during the first age. It was the last of the three great elven kingdoms to fall. It was hidden from Morgoth by an encircling mountain range known as the encircling mountains. Established and led by its king Turgon it withstood the wrath of Morgoth for a very long time until it's location was betrayed by an elf named Meaglin.

**Khazad-dûm:** or the Dwarrowdelf is the dwarven mine city that would become known as Moria after the awakening of Durin's bane.

**Maiar. **The Maiar originally of the order of the Ainu and helped Eru in the creation of Arda. After the great music they came in to Arda and became bound to it. The Maia are in general weaker than the Valar however the line isn't a very clear one. Some examples of major Maia are Sauron, Gandalf and the Balrogs.

**Moria: **Or the black pit in Sindarin is the name given to Khazad-dûm after the awakening of Durin's bane in the third age. It is important to note that this name was only its name after the coming of the Balrog and before that the elves had much traffic with the dwarves in Khazad-dûm. The western door that the fellowship uses was actually made for their use and so they would have no need to give it an ominous name like the black pit. This is especially true since when the dwarves where still living there, there was actually had quite a lot of light.

**Sindarin:** is one of the two elfish languages developed by Tolkien which he used in his books the other being Quenya. Tolkien once said that the books sprouted from the languages instead of the other way around. This might seem as a bit of self- aggrandizement. But in Tolkien's case this is actually true as you will notice when you pay careful attention to his works. Sindarin is spoken by the Sindar elves which are the elves that never made it over to Valanor.

**Silmaril: **The silmarils where the jewels made by Feänor which were stolen by Melkor and resulted in most of the wars in the first age. 

**Quenya: **is one of the two elfish languages developed by Tolkien which he used in his books the other being Sindarin. Tolkien once said that the books sprouted from the languages instead of the other way around. This might seem as a bit of self- aggrandizement. But in Tolkien's case this is actually true as you will notice when you pay careful attention to his works. Quenya is spoken by the eldar or the elves that did make it over to Valanor.

**Ungoliant: **Was a Maia spirit and was an ally of Morgoth and helped him to destroy the trees. She's the mother of Shelob and once actually captured Melkor and threatened to kill him if he wouldn't hand over the silmarils.

**Valar: **The Valar where originally of the order of the Ainu and helped Eru in the creation of Arda. After the great music they came in to Arda and became bound to it. The Valar are the most powerful of that order. A few examples of Valar are Melkor, Manwe and Varda.


	2. The great, feathered, and misunderstood

_First off, I just want to say that I've been very pleasantly surprised by the responses my first essay received. I posted it just before calling it a night and by the time I woke up __the next morning,__ I had 3 very insightful reviews and before the day was out I had some really nice Tolkien discussions through the messenger system. Not only that, but I have found a proof reader as well so thanks to Feägalad (or light spirit) for agreeing to help me out. This should really help me with my grammar insecurities._

_Welcome to Tolkien essay 2: The Great, the Feathered and the Misunderstood. this one is concerned with perhaps the most hotly debated issue in Tolkien's works: namely the eagles. Although this is hardly a new issue and has been discussed from the time of Tolkien himself, I do think that the issue has been compounded by the Peter Jackson movies. In these films the eagles always seem to be just a handy moth call away, which is just not the way it is in Tolkien. This essay will discuss why exactly the eagles did not bring Frodo to Mordor or the dwarves to Erebor, which are, of course all important points. However, something else I'm going to discuss is their apparent use as Deus Ex Machina. I have found they are very easily mistaken for a Deus Ex Machina effect especially in the movies and people might misunderstand how Tolkien thought about this and get impressions about his work that are inaccurate. These topics are not as clear-cut as the Balrog wing debate so there are no single sentence answers. It is my hope that after reading this essay you'll have a better understanding of the eagles and their use in Tolkien's works._

* * *

The eagles taking the company to Mordor issue was first brought to my attention by a friend of mine. He showed me a video on the Internet about "How The Lord of the Rings Should Have Ended". I assume you have seen it and if not it is easy to look up. Now I must admit the first time I saw it I thought it was actually pretty funny. Mind you, I was a lot younger back then and somewhat naive. But these days, my less Tolkienish friends keep bringing this topic up, just to annoy and provoke me in to a discussion. Now, I do not mind a good Tolkien discussion but I have to admit I'm getting rather bored with the same old topic. So in a way this is my definitive attempt to settle the argument once and for all. It is not that I do not want to continue this discussion but this way we will actually know what we are talking about.

As with the Balrog debate, I think it is useful to give you some historical information on the eagles. This way we can see what they are and how they function within the stories. The original, eagles where the messengers and servants of _Manwe _who is described as the Lord of Winds. He is the leader of the _Valar_ and the representative and steward of _Eru _on _Arda. _

"_But Manwë Súlimo, highest and holiest of the Valar, sat upon the borders of Aman, forsaking not in his thought the Outer Lands. For his throne was set in majesty upon the pinnacle of Taniquetil, the highest of the mountains of the world, standing upon the margin of the sea. Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world. Thus they brought word to him of well nigh all that passed in Arda."_

So what are they? The answer to whether they are true Maiar embodied as eagles or eagles that have sworn fealty to Manwe does not seem entirely clear. This question, however, is in the end not very relevant and has no real bearing on our current discussion. What we do know is that they serve Manwe and are apparently keeping an eye on _Morgoth_ for him.

The next time we encounter an eagle is when Fingon finds Meadhros chained up a cliff in the mountains of the _Thangorodrim. _After finding his thought-to-be-killed cousin chained up like thatFingon despaired since there was no way for him to reach him. Meadhros was in horrible agony and begged Fingon to end his life. Fingon then readied his bow appealing to Manwe to make the arrow fly fast and end his life swiftly.

"S_aying: 'O King to whom all birds are dear, speed now this feathered shaft, and recall some pity for the Noldor in their need!"_

Instead of fulfilling Fingon's prayer, Manwe showed pity. He sent forth one of his, doubtless one of the ones that he had set there to keep watch on Morgoth, to sweep down to Fingon. The the mighty eagle flew him to Meadhros, but when Fingon still could not find a way to release his cousin, once again Meadhros begged for Fingon to kill him. However, Fingon instead decided to cut his hand off just above the wrist so he could be released without having to contend with the unyielding shackles.

"_But Fingon could not release the hell-wrought bond upon his wrist, nor sever it, nor draw it from the stone. Again therefore in his pain Maedhros begged__that he would slay him; but Fingon cut off his hand above the wrist, and Thorondor bore them back to Mithrim."_

This act rejoined the two kindred's of the _Noldor_ and they reconciled their differences. What is most important for us remember from this story is that, in this case, an eagle comes when summoned. Now this is not a true summons, of course. However, to my knowledge this is the only case in Tolkien when they came for anyone but Manwe's call. The next time we meet an eagle is after Fingolfin's duel with Morgoth when he brings new from this duel to _Gondolin _and, perhaps more importantly, brought Fingolfin's body to safety.

"_Thorondor was like the noise of the winds of Manwë, and he seized the body in his mighty talons, and soaring suddenly above the darts of the Orcs he bore the King away.__And he laid him upon a mountain-top that looked from the north upon the hidden valley of Gondolin; and Turgon coming built a high cairn over his father."_

The eagle in this case is Thorondor who is the Lord of Eagles and this will become the first of the major burial monuments in Tolkien's works. This is another important moment, since the eagle might have come in useful during the actual duel yet Thorondor doesn't help Fingolfin. Instead he helps to spread the news of the bravery and the ultimate demise of the high king.

The next time we see Thorondor, it is when he saves Hurin and Huor who are wandering in the wilds of the mountains around Gondolin. This is a minor moment of the eagles, though it is important to note that they seem to take pity on these humans that are about to die and rescue them The eagles are also the ones that will bear Hurin and Huor out of Gondolin on the bidding of Turgon, the King of Gondolin.

Thorondor is also involved in the story of Beren and Luthien where the eagles rescue the two from the gates of Angband, though in the tale it seems to be a minor point.

"_High above the realm of Morgoth Thorondor and his vassals soared, and seeing now the madness of the Wolf and Beren's fall they came swiftly down, even as the powers of Angband were released from the toils of sleep."_

Here the eagles do not come when bidden; they seem to come completely out of their own accord. As they did with Hurin and Huor, they seem to see is going on and decide to come. They save the lives of Beren and Luthien arguably the most important people in the entire history of Arda. Since they stole a silmarils from Morgoth's very crown, motivating the remaining elves to reunite and try to take action against Morgoth. They are also the ancestors of both Elrond and Aragorn so their story seems to resonate throughout tolkien's works. We can begin to see the familiar pattern here: things are going badly for 'the good guys' and right in time the eagles come to save the day. This is part of what people mistakenly believe to be a Deus Ex Machina, so keep an eye on that trend.

The next major appearance of the eagles includes Thorondor again. This appearance is during the sack of Gondolin and the duel between a Balrog and Glorfindel.

"_Many are the songs that have been sung of the duel of Glorfindel with the Balrog upon a pinnacle of rock in that high place; and both fell to ruin in the abyss. But the eagles coming stooped upon the Orcs, and drove them shrieking back; and all were slain or cast into the deeps, so that rumour of the escape from Gondolin came not until long after to Morgoth's ears. Then Thorondor bore up Glorfindel's body out of the abyss, and they buried him in a mound of stones beside the pass; and a green turf came there, and yellow flowers bloomed upon it amid the barrenness of stone, until the world was changed."_

This time they actually seem to help Glorfindel in the duel. Once again they bring a body to safety when the fight is over. This is a very important place because among the refugees there is a nine year old _Eärendil, _the mightiest mariner of song, who will later end up saving the entirety of Middle-earth.

It will take a long time for us to see eagles again after this and I'm not entirely convinced these are exactly the same eagles. They act slightly differently and act lot more independently. It's my personal theory that they might be descendants from the original Maia eagles, just like Shelob is a descendant of the Maia Ungoliant. They developed a culture for their very own as the years went on. Of course the 'next time' I was talking about is when they famously rescue Thorin and Company from the burning fir trees.

_"Then Gandalf climbed to the top of his tree. The sudden splendor flashed from his wand like lightning, as he got ready to spring down from on high right among the spears of the goblins. That would have been the end of him, though he would probably have killed many of them as he came hurtling down like a thunderbolt. But he never leaped. Just at that moment the Lord of the eagles swept down from above, seized him in his talon, and was gone."_

What is most important here is that they came without anyone expecting them or calling them. Thorin, the twelve Dwarves, and Bilbo Baggins all believe they are going to die. Even Gandalf, who is clearly different in The Hobbit than he is in The Lord of the Rings, is prepared to die fighting. Now The Company is sure that they are going to die and the eagles are not only unexpected when they come, but as far as we know they are uncalled. They appeared to just be hunting in the area and spot the commotion that was going on with the trees and the fire. They went down to take a look and only really intervened when they saw that the goblins where involved. In a way they seem to care more about teasing the goblins than actually helping The Company, they do seem to be keen to help Gandalf once they see him.

_"The wizard and the eagle-lord appeared to know one another slightly, and even to be on friendly terms. As a matter of fact Gandalf, who had often been in the mountains, had once rendered a service to the eagles and healed their lord from an arrow-wound."_

However the eagles do not seem quite safe. They are not evil, but they are not strictly good either. The Tolkien Professor once made the following point, and I couldn't agree more with him, the eagles are a part of the wild and that is why they are unsafe as a wild animal might be. Now, they clearly seem to claim more intelligence than wild animals do but they _are_ living in a hard world that requires them to adept to their circumstances.

Now we will see the eagles again when they turn the tide at the Battle of Five Armies, where once again they come unexpected and without being summoned. They appear to have decided to go there because they noticed the goblins going towards Erebor. Since the eagles appear to hate goblins, I surmise they just decided to follow them to see what they were up to.

"_The Eagles had long had suspicion of the goblins' mustering; from their watchfulness the movements in the mountains could not be altogether hid. So they too had__gathered in great numbers, under the great Eagle of the Misty Mountains; and at length smelling battle from afar they had come speeding down the gale in the nick of time.__"_

That is I think, the main reason they came to Erebor not to help out over there but because of their general hatred. The fact that they could help Gandalf again in the process was a simply a bonus. What we can take from this is that the eagles are good friends to have and can be very loyal, but they are not just blindly following the good guys and doing whatever they can to help them without a concrete reason to do so.

During the entire Lord of the Rings we see an eagle helping out Gandalf for transportation. He's called Gwahir and I assume this is the same eagle as the Lord of the Eagles. Gwahir is the eagle that rescues Gandalf from Orthanc on the bidding of Radagast the Brown. Gwahir seems to be more then willing to facilitate transport for Gandalf, most likely as thanks for Gandalf's healing of his arrow wound as mentioned in The hobbit. Not only does Gwahir rescue the Grey Wizard from Orthanc, but he also saves him from the top of Caradhras when Gandalf returned as Gandalf the White. Of course we all know that the eagles turn up at the very end during the battle at the Black Gate. Here I think they themselves made the decision to help the armies of the West out, rather like the Ents attacking Isengard. And once again note that they come unlooked for.

Now we've gone over all the Mention of Eagles throughout Tolkien's works, we can make a few conclusions. To summarize: The eagles were originally servants of Manwe, but over the ages they seem to have become more and more self-sufficient. They seem to be acting as agent of providence helping those who need to be helped for the history of middle-earth. In the Third Age, they seem to have broken most, if not all contact with Manwe they hate the goblins and they are very loyal friends should you manage to befriend them. One important thing that, in order to understand, you have to realize is that they are a completely separate society and they seem to be a neutral party. They try not to get involved in the major wars overmuch because, like most people, their own interests come first. Now if Gandalf pleaded for them to help and bring Frodo to Mordor, explaining the need for it, would they be willing to help out? I suppose they would. However it would not have worked for one more very important reason.

The reason the entire quest of Frodo succeeded was secrecy. We can see this in the Council of Elrond where they decide not to send Glorfindel as one of the Nine Walkers because there simply was no way Sauron would not notice the presence of such a great Elf Lord. Yet the Ring had to be taken to Mordor to be destroyed for all at the council knew they could not destroy It by force. Besides, until the very end Sauron would not believe that they would ever attempt to destroy the ring, and that is exactly what happened. In the end, Sauron thought Aragorn had the Ring and that is why He took the bait at the Black Gate, giving Frodo a clear route to Mount Doom. So if Frodo would have gone to Mordor on an eagle and flown over Mount Doom what would have happened? I'm sure he would have been taken down before he gotten anywhere close. This is not Morgoth who fought without an air force, this is Sauron who was Morgoth's pupil and doubtlessly learned from his master's mistakes. Had Frodo attempted to fly into Mordor, a winged Nazgul would undoubtedly have hunted the eagle down and killed both bird and passenger, taking the Ring and everything would have been under Sauron's control despite the best efforts of the West.

Now as I said, the other accusation against Tolkien's eagles is that they are just a Deus ex machine. For those that do not know, "Deus ex machina" means god in machine. It is an old literary device that originated in Greek theatre. In these plays, very bad situations were sometimes resolved in an instant without any preamble or any real logic like the hand of God had reached down and solved everything. This was very popular during the middle Ages and as a medieval-list Tolkien might seem to do the same in his writings. However, I would counter that by saying that Tolkien's use of the eagles is just not that simple. There is another literary term coined by Tolkien himself that is more apropos: eucatastrophe. This comes from the Greek root for "good" so what it means is a "good catastrophe". Tolkien explained in "On Faerie stories" that a eucatastrophe is a sudden unexpected and unpredictable turn for the better. A few examples of this from Tolkien's writings are the eagles coming in at the Battle of Five Armies and at the Black Gate. This might seem like semantics and to go into the differences properly would probably take another essay or two. However, I do believe that there is a major difference between 'Deus ex machina' and 'eucatastrophe'. One of the things I would point to is that what Tolkien does makes sense in the story. A un-eagle related example is the unfolding of the banner when Aragorn comes to the battle of Pelennor. We knew he was on his way there, but we had no idea he was in that particular ship. Right when everything seems at its worst on the Pelennor Fields, the tables turn and Aragorn son of Arathorn, Heir of Elendil reveals himself and comes into his own.

In conclusion, there is one final very important reason why the eagles did not bring Frodo to Mount doom and I would submit that it might be the most important reason of all. If the problem of destroying Sauron's Ring of Power had been resolved this way, The Lord of the Rings would have turned out to be an extremely boring and short book. This might seem like I mean it as a joke, but I am dead serious. Tolkien was a storyteller and he knew how to spin an intriguing tale. That is why he did not truncate the journey by having Gandalf and the Hobbits take a convenient ride atop one of the Great Eagles while Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli made faces at the Black Gate. I hope you now have a better understanding of the eagle problem and that you enjoyed this essay. It was a lot of fun to write, though it was a bigger challenge then I originally thought it would be.

List of terms

**Angband: **Morgoth's main fortress during the war of the jewels, after the destruction of Utumno his original fortress.

**Arda: **The planet in the universe of Ëa on which Middle-earth is a continent. Arda is meant to be a prehistoric version of our earth, which is important to remember. Middle-earth was supposed to be the equivalent of northwestern Europe. Originally Tolkien had actually specific modern locations in mind for a lot of the major places in his work. However, this plan was abandoned very early in his life.

**Ëa:** The universe that Eru created. He did this after the Great Music by saying the word "Ëa" which translates to "let it be". One of the planets in Ëa is Arda.

**Eärendil:** The Mightiest Mariner of Song, Eärendil is the one who brings the message of the Noldor and the Edaïn of Middle-earth to Valanor. He is the one who pleads for the Valar to stop Morgoth. As the product of the union between an elf and a man, he is the ideal candidate to represent both races. His wife is Elwing, who is the grandchild of Luthien. So both of the Half-Elven families come together in the birth of their children, Elros and Elrond.

**Eru: **The One, who in Middle-earth is called Iluvatar. Eru is Tolkien's equivalent to the Judea Christian God. As a devout Catholic, Tolkien believed in the Christian God and Eru is therefore, just the elvish name for God.

**Feänor: **Feänor is the mightiest elf that ever lived. He made the Silmarils but was corrupted by his lust for them and by the lies of Morgoth. He led the Noldor in a revolt against the Valar. Burning with the desire for the Silmarils that Morgoth stole, Feänor died trying to regain his creation.

**Maiar:**The Maiar, originally of the order of the Ainu helped Eru in the creation of Arda. After the Great Music they came into Arda and became bound to it. The Maiar are in general weaker than the Valar. However the line isn't a very clear one. Some examples of Major Maia are Sauron, Gandalf, and the Balrogs.

**Manwe:** Sulimo is the Valar of the airs and winds. He's the head of the Valar and basically Eru's steward & representative on Arda.

**Melkor: ** Later known as Morgoth, Melkor is the original Dark Lord in Tolkien's world. He's a fallen Vala and has a lot of similarities with the Lucifer figure in Christian tradition.

**Morgoth:** The name given to Melkor by Feänor after he killed Finwe and stole the Silmarils.

**Noldor: **The Noldor are a group of elves who rebelled against the Valar. Lead by Feänor, they returned to Middle-earth to fight a war against Morgoth in hopes of regaining the Silmarils.

**Silmaril: **The Silmarils were the jewels made by Feänor . They were stolen by Melkor and resulted in most of the wars in the First Age of Middle-earth.

**Thangorodrim: **The mountain range standing atop Morgoth's main fortress of Angband.

**Valar: **The Valar were originally of the order of the Ainu and helped Eru in the creation of Arda. After the Great Music they came into Arda and became bound to it. The Valar are the most powerful of that order. A few examples of Valar are Melkor, Manwe, and Varda who in middle-earth is called Elbereth.

* * *

_I hope you enjoyed this essay and if you have any comments or questions please post a review or a pm. This is also the way to go to suggest other topics that you'd like me to cover. And finally it's been brought to my attention that this site doesn't like none story content. I have looked over the rules and to my understanding there is no direct reference to this kind of content. Now I hope that if it isn't allowed they'll be willing to let this one go I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be allowed._

_Finally I just want to thank Feägalad again for helping me out polishing it up a little. This essay wouldn't have looked anywhere near as professional without it. _


	3. Orcs VS Goblins

_Welcome to my slightly delayed new essay. The delay was because of the fact that my proofreader and I are very busy at the moment so the process was a bit longer then it was with the other two. This one concerns the orcs and goblins, the primary mercenary baddies of Tolkien's works.. Within the essay, I will ask what the difference between the two is and try to paint a picture of their society and nature. I hope you enjoy the essay and I want to thank everyone once again for reviewing and commenting. _One of the lesser-discussed topics in the realm of Tolkien literature is the discussion that concerns the orcs and goblins. When I say that it is not much discussed I don't mean that everybody has it right. I have heard a great multitude of theories considering the difference between the two and the one that I feel is right seems very unpopular, sometimes to the point of being unknown. Even serious Tolkien fans get this one wrong every now and then, which seems strange since there is actually, to my opinion, a very definitive answer. This essay will discuss these theories and the general history and nature of the orcs.

I will give the most popular theory on the origins of the orcs here, which is the one that was published in The _Silmarillion_. Tolkien was never completely satisfied with this story because it seemed to bereave the orcs of any sense of culture and make them just soldiers. However, he never wrote a satisfying alternate theory so this is what we have to work with.

The orcs were originally created during the _Times of the Trees _when the elves awoke on the shores of Lake _Quiviennen_. At this time, the elves seem to be confused and do not yet have a clear sense of what to do with themselves. They seem to have a general fear, but they do not really know what to fear and _Melkor_ seems to have influenced them in this regard. In particular the elves seem to fear the _Valar_ and especially _Oromë_ Melkor seemed to want to spread this fear to make them avoid the Oromë who has been searching for the elves.

"_Yet many of the Quendi were filled with dread at his coming; and this was the doing of Melkor. For by after-knowledge the wise declare that Melkor, ever watchful, was first aware of the awakening of the Quendi, and sent shadows and evil spirits to spy upon them and waylay them."_

Melkor has spread lies about the Valar in general and Oromë in particular, so that the newly awakened elves would reject the Valar, and be more susceptible to his influence. When Oromë finally finds the elves a part of them seem to flee before him and to be lost in the darkness.

"_Thus it was that when Nahar neighed and Oromë indeed came among them, some of the Quendi hid themselves, and some fled and were lost."_

The ones that were lost would be captured by Melkor and enslaved, tortured and corrupted, into becoming the first orcs. This event would come to be known as the most evil deed of Melkor in the eyes of _Eru_ and it is easy to see why. What Melkor did here was take the most wonderful creation of Eru and convert them into not just a hideous form of life but one that is enslaved to his will without a choice of its own.

"_And deep in their dark hearts the Orcs loathed the Master whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery. This it may be was the vilest deed of Melkor, and the most hateful to Ilúvatar."_

We can also see that they seem to serve Melkor more out of fear then actual loyalty that might come from gratefulness for his creating them. They are thoroughly evil, of course, but one cannot help but feel some pity for them despite that fact. This is not to say that they are in truth very friendly creatures just bullied in to doing horrible things; these are creatures that have been so corrupted that all they know is evil. The few times we get orcs interacting with other orcs it seems their own culture is one of violence and cruelty, even among themselves. And towards their enemies they can be even more cruel then the masters that they serve

Throughout the Silmarillion we will see the orcs used as Morgoth's main frontline troops and there seem to be no limit to how many of these troops Morgoth has. One important thing to note for our current discussion is that there is not a single mention of the word goblin throughout the entire Silmarillion so apparently they have not yet been invented, which might suggest that the goblins come from Sauron.

After the defeat of Morgoth, the orcs are for a while leaderless and scatter all throughout Middle-earth. Of course, eventually _Sauro_n comes into power and starts using them when he starts his first war against the Free Peoples but when Sauron is defeated at the end of the second Age they are again leaderless for a long time and form groups of their own separate from any Dark Overlord.

The first chronological use of the word 'goblin' comes from the first book Tolkien ever published: _The Hobbit_. There the term is almost exclusively used to describe the humanoid evil enemies Thorin and Company encounter. The word 'orc' is only used twice in the entire book. The first mention of them can be found in the Riddles in the Dark chapter when Bilbo has just escaped from Gollum and is trying to make his way through the tunnels and find the exit.

_A bit low for goblins, at least for the big ones," thought Bilbo, not knowing that even the big ones, the orcs of the mountains, go along at a great speed stooping low with their hands almost on the ground._

This seems to suggest that orcs are simply larger kind of goblins who are supposed to live in the mountains. However, each and every single goblin/orc we just encountered is named as goblins and they all seem to live in that same mountain. It is also worth noting that it is the narrator and not Bilbo using the term orc to describe a larger goblin. The other reference to orcs in the hobbit also seems to describe a subset of goblins.

"_Before you could get round Mirkwood in the North you would be right among the slopes of the Grey Mountains, and they are simply stiff with goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs of the worst description. Before you could get round it in the South, you would get into the land of the Necromancer; and even you, Bilbo, won't need me to tell you tales of that black sorcerer."_

This is Gandalf's reasoning for why they cannot just go around Mirkwood, and as I said this seems to just describe different sets of goblins. Note once again that it is not Bilbo referring to orcs. Now an attentive reader will recognize the Necromancer as being Sauron. However I feel it very important to note that when Tolkien wrote the hobbit he had no idea that the Necromancer would turn out to be Sauron. Sauron himself existed already, of course, but only in his as of yet unpublished Beren and Luthien story. So at this point the Necromancer is just a dark wizard living in Dol Goldur and is used as an excuse for Gandalf to leave the company.

However going by the legendarium as it continued to develop we can be pretty sure that Sauron is already starting to gather his armies and get ready for the War of the Ring. However it seem clear to me that the goblins Thorin and Company encounter in the Misty Mountains are unconnected with Sauron. Especially since seem to have developed a true society and culture of their own.

In The Hobbit we have the only place where Tolkien gives us an idea how a goblin society works. Goblin Town seems to be a vast underground city with a clear hierarchical structure. They even seem to have a somewhat legitimate point against the dwarves, they see them as intruders and spies and thieves there to cause them harm

"_What do you mean by it?" said the Great Goblin turning to Thorin. "Up to no good, I'll warrant! Spying on the private business of my people, I guess! Thieves, I shouldn't be surprised to learn! Murderers and friends of Elves, not unlikely! Come! What have you got to say?"_

Naturally these accusations are not entirely true, the dwarves were just taking shelter from the storm and did not even know the cave was the front porch of the Goblin . But in a way we can understand the point of the Great Goblin for at the time of The Hobbit, the Dwarven Goblin war had been waged for a long time, without the influence of either Morgoth or Sauron. The Dwarves and the Goblins are bitter enemies and the Goblins legitimately thought that Thorin's Company might have had less than honorable intentions when they turned up on the front porch of Goblin Town. Thorin himself had killed many goblins in the last war, especially at the final battle of _Azanulbizar _where he gained the nickname Oakenshield.

The argument can be made that the goblins are just making up an argument to justify their actions, especially since they seem at least as cruel as the orcs of the first age if not worse as can be seen from their songs:

"_Clap! Snap! the black crack!__  
__Grip, grab! Pinch, nab!__  
__And down down to Goblin-town__  
__ You go, my lad!__Clash, crash! Crush, smash!__  
__Hammer and tongs! Knocker and gongs!__  
__Pound, pound, far underground!__  
__ Ho, ho! my lad!__Swish, smack! Whip crack!__  
__Batter and beat! Yammer and bleat!__  
__Work, work! Nor dare to shirk,__  
__While Goblins quaff, and Goblins laugh,__  
__Round and round far underground__  
__ Below, my lad!"_

One might think that the songs and poems in The Hobbit are there just for fun and because it is a children's book. However I believe that when you read them carefully you can gain some insight into the singers and the situation. Other than the general violence of the song we can see that, in a way, they are singing about what is going on. The Crack snapped open and they nabbed the company and are now taking them to Goblin town. We can see them anticipating the upcoming torture and taking delight in it. This unpleasant characteristic of the goblins is made even clearer in their next song which is the one they sing when the Dwarves' trees are on fire.

"_Fifteen birds in five fir trees,__  
__their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze!__  
__But, funny little birds, they had no wings!__  
__O what shall we do with the funny little things?__  
__Roast 'em alive, or stew them in a pot;__  
__fry them, boil them and eat them hot?__Burn, burn tree and fern!__  
__Shrivel and scorch! A fizzling torch__  
__To light the night for our delight,__  
__ Ya hey!__Bake and toast 'em, fry and roast 'em!__  
__till beards blaze, and eyes glaze;__  
__till hair smells and skins crack,__  
__fat melts, and bones black__  
__ in cinders lie__  
__ beneath the sky!__  
__ So dwarves shall die,__  
__and light the night for our delight,__  
__ Ya hey!__  
__ Ya-harri-hey!__  
__ Ya hoy!" _

The goblins are narcissists and the only true joy they can get comes from the suffering of others. They cannot wait to see the dwarves burn and melt and their song seems to be part of their anxious anticipations. Since they seem related to the orcs, one has to assume that this is a result of their corruption by Morgoth. What we can see in these situations is that the goblins do not seem to need to be controlled by a Dark Overlord for them to be evil and cruel. They are so corrupted that they can no longer help themselves.

When we next see the goblins in The Hobbit it will be when are launching an assault on the dwarves, humans, and elves at the lonely mountainin _the battle of five armies_. They seem to do this in revenge of the death of the_ Great Goblin_. Also, the leader of the goblins _Bolg _has a more personal reason. It seems his father, _Azog_, was killed at Azanulbizar.

"_Dread has come upon you all! Alas! it has come more swiftly than I guessed. The Goblins are upon you! Bolg__*__of the North is coming, O Dain! whose father you slew in Moria. Behold! the bats are above his army like a sea of locusts. They ride upon wolves and Wargs are in their train!"_

One might think that these reasons are just a badly fabricated excuse and that Bolg was just looking for an excuse for war, and they might be right. The goblins are cruel enough for an unprovoked assault however; I think it is important to note these apparent reasons. The thing is; when either Sauron or Morgoth controlled them, they didn't seem to need a personal reason other than fear to attack. Now they are attacking for personal vendetta and gain, driving their own machine of war rather than the machine of an overlord.

Now there are two more very important things we can take from The Hobbit that are relevant to our current discussion. One is the reference, by Elrond, to _Glamdring _and _Orcrist_ the swords Gandalf and Thorin found in the troll cave, being used in the great goblin wars of Gondolin

"_They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin-wars. They must have come from a dragon's hoard or goblin plunder, for dragons and goblins destroyed that city many ages ago.__"_

_Gondolin _is, of course, the hidden capital of _Turgon_'s kingdom and the last of the great Elven kingdoms to fall as said in The Silmarillion. The strange thing here is that, as I said, the word 'goblin' is never used in the entire four hundred plus pages of The Silmarillion. The word used is orc. This muddling of terms then begs the question is Elrond slip up? I would think not, especially since Turgon _is Elrond's_ grandfather.

The other important thing has to do with the swords. In particular with Orcrist. Orcrist means 'goblin cleaver' in the Elven tongue and one does not have to be a linguist to figure out that the 'orc' part stands for goblin. Orcrist is Sindarin so the Sindar word 'orc' seems to at least loosely translate to 'goblin'.

In _The_ Lord_ of the Rings_ we get one more glimpse in the goblin/orc culture in the form of two unsavory characters by the name of Shagrat and Gorbag. Gorbag is an orc, Captain of Minas Morgul and Shagrat is the Captain of the Tower of Cirith Ungol. They seem to have, if such a thing is possible among orcs, an almost collegial relationship.

"_All right,' said Shagrat, 'but we'll talk of that later. Wait till we get to the Under-way. There's a place there where we can talk a bit, while the lads go on."_

They seem on quite friendly terms and it is worth mentioning that these orcs are, of course, under the control of Sauron, but there are several references to them not quite agreeing with the "big bosses". I In fact, they seem to be planning to leave and set up a place for their own undoubtedly not unlike how the Great Goblin was out on his own.

"_What d'you say? – if we get a chance, you and me'll slip off and set up somewhere on our own with a few trusty lads, somewhere where there's good loot nice and handy, and no big bosses."_

Of course all of this will fall apart when they get in an argument over what to do with Frodo and his mithril coat. Their true nature shows when they all start killing each other over what seems just a silly thing. In Tolkien's works this is how evil operates: self-destructive anarchy and we see this time and time again with the big baddies and the small, from Morgoth to Gollum. And of course the orcs are no different, sad though their story has become, they are evil and have most likely sunk to the point of being beyond healing or redemption. One more thing worth noting is that the orcs seem to have a long memory; they make reference to a great siege which must mean The Battle of the Last Alliance. Since they probably were not there, we must surmise they must have either an oral or a written history account.

Another thing that I find interesting is what happens to the orcs once the Ring is destroyed. Unlike in the movie, they do not fall in to a gaping abyss at the end of the book they do not even seem to just die; they just lose all direction and are scattered.

"_So the creatures of Sauron ; orc or troll or beast spell-enslaved, ran hither and thither mindless; and some slew themselves, or cast themselves in pits, or fled wailing back to hide in holes and dark lightless places far from hope."_

My guess is that this is what always happens to the orcs once they lose their dark overlord. It has happened twice: once with Morgoth and once with Sauron. The orcs simply do not know what to do on their own. Morgoth and Sauron put forth a part of their powers and spirit into their servants and once they are destroyed or weakened, their servants will be affected as well.

There are a total of thirteen mentions of 'goblin' in the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. Most of the time the creatures are referred to as orcs and when goblin is used a hobbit or the narrator says it almost every single time. This has, of course, been the pattern since The Hobbit too was written from the perspective of a hobbit. So what does this all mean? What is the true difference between the two? There seems to be a difference, especially in the movie versions and even more in the multitude of games, right? Well it is true that the movies seem to have found it useful to make a very clear distinction between the two. A game needs as many species and classes as it can get if it is to be successful, hence the distinction in the Lord of the Rings games. I was reading an article in a major magazine just before the first Hobbit movie came out. This article was one of the main reasons I started thinking about this subject. In this article, someone working on the production of The Hobbit said that there was a major difference between orcs and goblins, and even suggested that anyone who did not see it was reading the source material wrong. Needless to say, this made me angry because the short answer to the question is that there actually is not any distinction between the two.

So if there is no real difference between an orc and a goblin, why does Tolkien differentiate between them at all? Is this just Tolkien being overenthusiastic with naming things again? I think not as we saw the people who say 'goblin' the most are the hobbits. Basically, 'goblin' is the Westron word for these creatures. This term was not invented by Tolkien and has its basis in English. Now 'orc', as I mentioned before, has its root in Sindarin, one of Tolkien's own languages. Sindarin is a form of elvish and since the Silmarillion is written from the elvish perspective, it seems logical that the term goblin does not appear anywhere. Tolkien actually did not like the word goblin very much and he only really started using it when he wrote The Hobbit. There he originally used it since it was a recognizable word for the audience of his book, which were primarily children. They would not recognize the word 'orc' since Tolkien himself had invented it. Goblin, however, is a word that has been used in a lot of contemporary stories such as The Princess and the Goblin by George McDonald. As the mythology of Arda developed for The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien he basically made the word 'goblin' into a local term used by the hobbits and others living in their general area. This means that an orc group living near The Shire are more likely to be referred to as 'goblins' and goblins that live farther east will be named by their Sindarin name of 'orc'.

So now that we have established that orcs and goblins are the same species, we can take all we learnt from both names and try to get a picture of orc society. They were created by Morgoth by his torturing and corrupting and elves he had captured to force them to do his bidding. They served for ages upon ages as the frontline grunts for Morgoth and are now a wholly corrupted form of life. Once their ruler has been defeated, they become senseless and have no further direction, but they will eventually regroup and form societies of their own. Their general corruptness makes so that they could never live in peace even among themselves. They have to go out and hunt some of the Free People and if they cannot find someone to hunt, they will turn on each other.

Their society is slightly more complex than you might at first think. They seem to have a sense of their own history, so either they have a rich oral tradition or a written account. One thing I just want to make clear here is that, contrary to popular belief, the orcs do not speak Black Speech, but a language called Orcish. Black Speech was a language devised by Sauron himself to be used by all his servants and that is also the language with which the Ring is inscripted:

_"Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash __  
__nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."_

_It might have been Sauron's intention to have all his servants speak this but we are given several indications that he did not succeed. When orcs are speaking they are usually speaking common speech that is because there is a great many different orcish dialects and an orc from one tribe would not understand the speech of another. This is how the hobbits seem to understand the speech of the orcs they meet and are captured by. There is another possibility of where their memory comes from, it might seem controversial but in a way I like this theory, the orcs are immortal. Now wait do not just stop reading here and declare me a fool there might be some evidence for this. The orcs where originally elves and they of course will not die unless slain in battle or by greave. So why could they not be immortal? Of course many of them will die in battle since their general use as shock troops but for me it is not that hard to imagine their chieftains like the great goblin to have lived for a very long time. In the end there is insufficient evidence to answer this question either way although it is fun to speculate about._

_Now there is one more subspecies of orcs mentioned and those are the Uruks. Uruk seems to be the black speech word for orc however it seems to be reserved in the texts for the big orcs bread by Sauron for the war._

"_There are Orcs, very many of them,' he said. 'And some are large and evil: black Uruks of Mordor.__"_

And then of course there is the Uruk-hai which are Saruman's version of those uruk orcs. . One might see a flaw here in my essay since they might think that the uruks where created by interbreeding Orcs and goblins. Well this is a very common mistake ever since the movies came out. Where they do say that this is how Saruman did it, however the truth is a more despicable. In the books not a big point of this is made but there is a reference of how Saruman created them.

"_It is a mark of evil things that came in the Great Darkness that they cannot abide the Sun; but Saruman's Orcs can endure it, even if they hate it. I wonder what he__has done? Are they Men he has ruined, or has he blended the races of Orcs and Men? That would be a black evil!"_

The last of Treebeard's theories seems the most common and accepted one among fans and scholars, so what does this mean? Well, unless Saruman was growing babies in a lab I must imagine he had sent out orcs to impregnate women, an act that I _highly _doubt would be consensual. That kind of act would be a black evil indeed.

What makes Saruman's Uruks special, of course, is that they can endure the sunlight and seem to be more intelligent than the average orc. These are of course all traits that could be attributed to their partly human heritage.

So to sum this essay up: orcs and goblins are basically the same thing. They are a corrupted form of life and all they really know is violence. Sad as that is, there is probably no redemption left for them and they can never be healed. Tolkien once made the following statement in a letter to his son that spoke about World War II. "The problem with this war is that there are orcs on both sides." So for Tolkien, an orc can also be a human with orcish behavior or worldviews and, let's be honest here, I think we all know an orc or two in the world today.

List of terms

**Azanulbizar: **the valley in front of the east gate of Moria. This was the location for the final battle in the dwarf goblin war. Where Daiïn slew Azog and Thorin took up an oaken branch instead of his broken shield earning his nickname.

**Azog:** Leader of the goblins in Moria and the leader of all the goblins in their war against the dwarves. He was killed by Daïn at the doorstep of Moria.

**Battle of five armies: **The climactic battle of the hobbit where elves, men and dwarves fought against an army of goblins and wargs.

**Bolg: **son of Azog was the leader of the goblins in the battle of five armies he he was killed during the battle by Beorn.

**Eru: **the one who in middle earth is called Iluvatar which is Tolkien's equivalent to the Judea Christian god. As a devout catholic he believes in the Christian god and Eru is therefore just the elvish name for god.

**Glamdring:** or Foe Hammer one of the two swords Thorin and company discovered in the troll hoard the other being orcrist. Gandalf took Glamdring for himself which had originally belonged to Turgon king of Gondolin.

**Gondolin: **Or the hidden rock, a city bild under the direction of the valar Ulmo and ruled by turgon. This was the last of the elven kingdoms to fall in the first age.

**The Great Goblin: **was the leader of the goblins n the misty mountains. He is killed by Gandalf when he rescues the dwarves from his captivity.

**The Hobbit: **The first book Tolkien ever published It's a children's book published in the 30's  
it describes the quest of Bilbo a hobbit who goes with a group of dwarves to re-take their treasure take from them by a dragon.

**The lord of the rings:** Tolkien's master piece usually published as a trilogy but in actuality it's one novel split in to Six books. Describing the quest of Frodo to destroy the one ring and the return of the king.

**Maiar: **The Maiar originally of the order of the Ainu and helped Eru in the creation of Arda. After the great music they came in to Arda and became bound to it. The Maiar are in general weaker than the Valar however the line isn't a very clear one. Some examples of Major Maia are Sauron, Gandalf and the Balrogs.

**Melkor: **who would later be known as Morgoth is the original dark lord in Tolkien's world. He's a fallen Vala and has a lot of similarities with the.  
Lucifer figure in Christian tradition.

**Morgoth:** The name given to Melkor by Feänor after he killed his father and stole his silmarils.

**Orcrist:** or goblin cleaver one of the two swords Thorin and company discovered in the troll hoard the other being Glamdring, Thorin took this sword which originally belonged to a captain of Gondolin.

**Oromë **The huntsmen of the Valar who rode on his great horse Nahar throughout middle-earth in search for the elves.

**Quenya: **is one of the two elfish languages developed by Tolkien which he used in his books the other being Sindarin. Tolkien once said that the books sprouted from the languages instead of the other way around. This might seem as a bit of self-aggrandizement. But in Tolkien's case this is actually true as you will notice when you pay careful attention to his works. Quenya is spoken by the eldar or the elves that did make it over to Valanor.

**Quiviennen: **is a lake far to the east of Middle-Earth where the first elves and humans awoke.

**Sauron: **was originally a lieutenant un der Morgoth and a Maia spirit. He fell with his master and was his most faithful and deathly servant. After the fall of Morgoth he set up for his own and was the chief enemy of the Free People during the second and third age.

**The Silmarillion: **the prequel to the hobbit and the lord of the ring that describes the tales of the first age of middle earth. This was tolkiens lives work which he sadly never completed and was published two years after his death.

**Sindarin:** is one of the two elfish languages developed by Tolkien which he used in his books the other being Quenya. Tolkien once said that the books sprouted from the languages instead of the other way around. This might seem as a bit of self-aggrandizement. But in Tolkien's case this is actually true as you will notice when you pay careful attention to his works. Sindarin is spoken by the Sindar elves which are the elves that never made it over to Valanor.

**Time of the Trees: **is the time before the rising of the sun and moon during which Valanor was lighted by two special trees. This time was ended after the destruction of the trees my Melkor.

**Turgon: **ruler of Gondolin and the original owner of Glamdring.

_I hope you enjoyed this essay and rest assured I'll start work on the next one soon. If you liked it please leave a review or a pm you can also suggest other topics and discussion points there. _


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